Author Archives: theamericanplutarch

Clinton Dan Stackhouse Jr. was born in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, and died in Tulsa, Oklahoma. During the course of his long life he served in the Army Air Corps throughout World War II in Europe. After the war he was an … Continue reading →

Maxwell Lawson (perhaps christened as John Maxwell Lawson) was born in 1802 in Tennessee, but who exactly his parents were is unclear. Maxwell married Anna Gray in 1820, but what her ancestry was (besides her parents) is overall unclear. Maxwell … Continue reading →

Slaughterhouse Five, written in 1969, is overall an antiwar book in which war so messes with a person that they go in and out of imaginary dreams and experiences, time is totally disoriented, the traditional narrative of life is broken, … Continue reading →

Vespasian Bradford of early 17th century London was a craftsman belonging to the city livery company, or guild, of cooks, people involved in the preparation of food. Vespasian’s namesake was the Roman Emperor Vespasian, who ruled Rome from 69 to … Continue reading →

William and Margaret Harwood Hawkins were among the first English settlers of Rhode Island. William, by trade a glove-maker, was a native of Exeter, England, born in 1609; his parents were William Hawkins and Katharine Gonson. William, Jr, sailed from … Continue reading →

The grinding movement of time toward the end was slow and steady, one day following another, night falling expectantly, darkness ruling the land until the hues of dawn foretold the beginning of a new day like all the others. The … Continue reading →

People throughout the ancient Mediterranean believed that the divine spoke to humans through dreams. Such was the experience of the young woman, which brought images so vivid, a conversation so easily recalled, that the sights and sounds etched on the … Continue reading →

The world was in need of a savior; then a star appeared, an astral phenomenon seen in the east.             Those who witnessed the rising star on the endless desert horizon were seeking signs of the will of heaven, the … Continue reading →

Happy is the person who does not walk in the way of sinners. . . . Happiness comes from acting according to God’s will. This simple truth is so obvious and necessary, it should so drive all human actions and … Continue reading →

God is mysterious. God is unknowable. God’s ways are unfathomable. Yet like the wind, the air we breathe, God’s presence is unmistakable. Reasoning, trying to figure out God and His ways, is a dead end. Feeling, intuition, sensing His presence, … Continue reading →